Many years ago when I was noting the immense technological
changes that were taking place before our eyes, a friend of mine asked me what
I thought about the status of countries like Iran
amidst such worldwide developments?At the time, I told him that the pace of
global change that we are witnessing in our times is like a locomotive which is
moving very fast with high acceleration and each individual, family, nation,
and country is like a passenger that needs to get on this train as soon as
possible, and if they do not, their distance from the nearest station, to get
on this train, will get exponentially farther and farther.Recently when I met this friend, he was
telling me it seems like Africa as a continent is getting
way behind this train.

So when looking at the phenomena of the global technological
changes, we can see some third world countries that have made good strides
forward, countries like Singapore and Taiwan, and some others that have never
gotten on the train.And in many of
underdeveloped countries, the political factor *is*the main obstacle in
front of these developments, because lack of freedom certainly hampers
post-industrial development.

If the industrial society needed *education* as a requirement
of its kind of production, the new technologies *require*freedom to
progress. Let’s remember that in pre-industrial societies, education existed,
but it was *not* a requirement of the production. Whereas education was a
requirement for industrial production, and this is why
educational system became a public need, and was standardized, and
institutionalized in the industrial society and this is how public school
system was formed in every industrial country. The situation is the same with
regards to *freedom* and the post-industrial society.

Freedom was an important ideal in pre-industrial and
industrial societies and the declaration of human rights and other similar
documents in history were the results of endeavors of humanity for a dignified
social life for all.But only in
post-industrial society, freedom is a requirement for production, and it is
being institutionalized in legal form, to protect freedom of invention, and the
intellectual property rights, software copyright, etc.It is not hard to see the lack of copy right
laws in backward countries.

Institutionalizing freedom is a necessity for the
development of the core technologies of the post-industrial development and
futurist authors like Tofflers have been noting this
factor in their works [for example, see Toffler’s book entitled “Power
Shift”].Some new technologies can
partially be developed in closed societies like China,
but the development of the codified knowledge, which is a fundamental
requirement of post-industrial development, is hampered with lack of freedom.
For a good expose of codified knowledge, please refer to recent studies of
Daniel Bell noted in his Foreword
1999 to the new print of Daniel Bell’s book "The Coming of Post-Industrial
Society".

Now this is the background from which we should evaluate
developments of third world countries.We know advancements of some countries like Singapore
and Taiwan in
hardware and India
in software.I have written on this
topic in 1998 and the differences of access to high-speed networking in
different countries, noteworthy to say that South
Korea is trying hard to have early start on
high-speed networking access.Basically
the high-speed Fiber Optics backbone for any country, and their access to
high-speed worldwide transoceanic cables, is as critical as the way access to
warm waters was in the industrial age.Here is my 1998 note about Fiber Optics in Iran:

I think one of the things we should pay attention to,is that building a
post-industrial economy cannot be done by ideologies of nationalism,
protectionism or isolationism.In fact,
such state ideologies can compromise the real independence of a country, rather
than helping the cause of independence.Nationalism is as obsolete as Communism in this day and age.We do not live in an era where imperialist
powers were willing to capitalize in third world countries for cheap materials,
cheap labor, and markets.More and more
the real mine of the new world is a universities like the MIT which develop the
materials that are made to order for any industry in its Applied Material
Science research labs, for example the material with ductility and durability
that is needed by an auto industry manufacturer for its car production.Here is a good article by Daniel Bell on this
change in the world production:

The above means that attracting capital in such projects to
any country can happen if the skilled labor is viewed to exist in that country.

The West is spearheading all these developments worldwide
and the attitude of the politicians of any third world country in dealing with
the West is very critical to their success in producing for the global
market.The example of Japan
that is able to produce and market its products in the world markets should be
the example for any third world country to succeed in this day and age and
dealing with the Western partners is a key in such endeavors.Below is what I wrote about the taboo of the
West among the Iranian intellectuals and about Iranians and the West in
general, where we either thought we had to become the servants of the West or
we thought we had to stay isolated from the West:

The example of hostage-taking ordeal in the aftermath of the
Iranian 1979 Revolution and the support of many Iranian political groups of
this savage act has been a strong reason of isolation of Iran
and Iranians.Countries that had fought
US in wars and had killed many Americans, countries like Vietnam,
did not create such as a bad rapport that Iranians did when not even one
American had died in this hostage-taking ordeal.Why?Because such an action questions the immunity and security of diplomatic
missions, which can easily extend to business and other relations.This created the image that businesses are
not being respected and cannot feel secure, and such a perception is a poison
for any country, in an age where global business requires such guarantees to
flourish.Here is what I wrote on the
topic of hostage-taking a while back:

One thing that in this era is critical for any individual to
ask the leaders of different political and state organizations is their
programs for the future, i.e. their economic and political plans.We ask a lot from our politicians, but we
fail to discuss their *programs*, which is really the main thingwe should ask them about, as their program
for Iran is what they are supposed to implement as a political leader, when
they get to power?I once wrote an
article about how we Iranians treat our leaders and I think this issue is
especially very significant in our future in this era of global change.Here is what I had written:

I think we have a choice to become a Japan
or a Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia which is so backward that practices
stoning and amputations and only because of its good relations with the West,
we do not hear much about its obsolete system, and for now it makes money,
thanks to its oil, but has not developed any significant basic post-industrial
industries.Or we can become a Japan.This is what I wrote about Iran
and its two choices:

In short, I think Iran should aim for a business direction
like Japan where the only focus of the manufacturers is to serve the customers
and even if the government helps the industries, it is not by protecting them
to sell junk to the consumers deprived of other choices from foreign producers,
but it is by helping them to produce at the highest world quality
standards.A successful business is the
one that can sell in the global markets and can serve the customers the best,
and not like many sellers in Iran,
who sell in the sellers’ market, when the buyer has no choice.Here is what I have written about producing
for a buyers’ market:

Progressive
Iranians should oppose import and export policies that are based on any protection
of local industries, rather than protecting the consumers.If the local industries cannot develop the
price, features, and quality that Iranian consumers
desire, they should not be helped by import/export policies.They should be assisted by technical and
scientific programs to help them get on par with the leading-edge industries
worldwide.

Moreover the progressive parties and individuals should support programs to develop the
post-industrial enterprises and to fade away the smoke stack industries of the
past.Promote the technologies of
computers, communications, genetics, and satellite communications to make the
infrastructure necessary for post-industrial development of Iran.They can pioneer forming independent mutual funds to help such industries
and to finance entrepreneurs who want to build such businesses in Iran.We should not do all these efforts thru the government and private
initiatives have shown to work the best for such innovative endeavors.

And I would like to close this article by emphasizing the
main point that until any business, industry, and seller in Iran
feels that they have to earn their business by offering the best price,
features, and quality for their customers, Iran
will not be able to be a successful country in the 21st
Century.At the end of the game this is
what makes a nation successful in a global marketplace and not the help of the
state to force the buyers to buy a junk when the buyer is deprived of other
choices thru high customs tariffs and protectionist policies.

Finally I have described my thoughts on
the political and other aspects of this change and the proper program to
achieve such change in my proposal for the platform of the Iranian Futurist
Party, which is at the following URL.

Certainly the conflict between all the
traditional political and social forces of Iran with this new reality is
inevitable and the loss of the progressive forces to obsolete Islamist forces
in 1979 has not helped the post-industrial development in Iran but at the same
time, Iran is the best example of how a backward political and social program
can cause a constant frustration for a whole nation, a nation which understands
the 21st Century and will not be held away from this rapid train of
progress for long. The struggle for
Progressiveness in the Present Epoch in Iran
has just started: